"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross."
-- Sinclair Lewis

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Republican Party's Pledge Of Allegience To... The Banksters

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The big news today is the GOP's Contract On America, the widely ridiculed (on both sides of the ideological divide) "Pledge" that they rushed out now that they feel the shot they had this summer to take over the House slipping out of their grasp. At first glance it sounds like an attack on Bush: "An unchecked executive, a compliant legislature, and an overreaching judiciary have combined to thwart the will of the people and overturn their votes and their values, striking down long-standing laws and institutions and scorning the deepest beliefs of the American people. An arrogant and out-of-touch government of self-appointed elites makes decisions, issues mandates, and enacts laws without accepting or requesting the input of the many. Rising joblessness, crushing debt, and a polarizing political environment are fraying the bonds among our people and blurring our sense of national purpose."

Right wing operative Erick Erickson called it "dreck... full of mom tested, kid approved pablum that will make certain hearts on the right sing in solidarity. But like a diet full of sugar, it will actually do nothing but keep making Washington fatter before we crash from the sugar high... This document proves the GOP is more focused on the acquisition of power than the advocacy of long term sound public policy." Boehner had an especially sleazy corporate lobbyist put it together but I wonder if it was Aaron Schock who wrote the dog whistle part about pledging to honor traditional marriage and if was Jerry Lewis who put in the line about transparency... maybe oily Joe Barton about "careful stewardship (although they noticeably left out what the government would be careful stewards of. Blah, blah, blah... one sack of bullshit piled on top of the other sacks of bullshit. And lots of militaristic crap and saber rattling one day after every single Senate Republican voted to filibuster a defense bill because it included the DREAM Act that the Pentagon says is so important for the military.

Within hours of their dramatic unveiling on The Pledge in a Virginia hardware store, the House overwhelmingly passed H.R. 3470, Steve Cohen's Nationally Enhancing the Wellbeing of Babies through Outreach and Research Now Act, which was deemed too favorable to poor people and to people of color to be approved by the new guard of the GOP. Although most Republicans (106 of them) joined every single Democrat to vote YES, 64 of the furthest right members voted NO. That 64 included teabaggy favorites like Michele Bachmann (MN), Paul Broun (GA), Dan Burton (IN), John Campbell (CA), Virginia Foxx (NC), Scott Garrett (NJ), Louie Gohmert (TX), Jeb Hensarling (TX), Darrell Issa (CA), Steve King (IA), Ron Paul (R-TX), Tom Price (GA), Pete Sessions (TX), Lynn Westmoreland (GA) and-- in a very noticeable break from Boehner and Ryan-- Young Guns Eric Cantor (VA) and Kevin McCarthy (CA). They're the ideological tip of the spear the ones who are setting the real Republican Party agenda which is all about shipping middle class jobs overseas to low wage markets while crushing the small businesses they pretend to worship.

The rhetoric of House Republicans is that they have been working to help create small business jobs and save American jobs, yet their record has been the opposite. For example, just this Congress, House Republicans have:

Voted against closing tax loopholes that encourage companies to ship jobs overseas five times even as millions of jobless Americans are looking for work.

The truth about the Congressional Republican agenda is that it is designed to save jobs overseas, not here at home. On Thursday, House Republicans will likely again oppose the Small Business Lending and Jobs Bill, adding to their long record of voting against American workers and small businesses. This Congress, House Republicans have voted:

AGAINST the American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act (99% voted NO)

AGAINST reducing Small Business Estimated Tax Payments (100% voted NO)

AGAINST providing Tax Relief (100% voted NO)

Instead of moving forward with real solutions for the American people, Congressional Republicans are focusing on their political future, doing the bidding of special interest lobbyists, and going back to the exact same policies that got us into this mess.

Just last month Boehner lit into President Obama and Speaker Pelosi for closing one of the worst of the greed-and-ideological inspired loopholes that rewarded companies with generous tax breaks for creating jobs overseas. Boehner brazenly and insultingly-- insulting to the unemployed and displaced workers of Ohio, I might add-- attacked the very idea that his supporters have now apparently identified as the economic priority they’re most interested in, more tax breaks for corporations shipping American jobs abroad.

Dan Pfeiffer, on the White House blog termed it, appropriately, the Republican pledge to special interests. "Instead of charting a new course, Congressional Republicans doubled down on the same ideas that hurt America’s middle class. Here’s what they made clear:

• Doing nothing to stop the outsourcing of American jobs or to end tax breaks that are given to companies that ship jobs overseas;

• All while adding trillions to our nation’s deficits.

Their plan is also notable for what it doesn’t talk about: protecting Social Security and Medicare from privatization schemes; investing in high-quality education for our nation’s children; growing key industries like clean energy and manufacturing; and rebuilding our crumbling roads, rails and runways.

This is the same agenda that caused the deepest recession since the Great Depression, costing 8 million jobs, wiping out trillions in family wealth and setting middle-class families back. Instead of a pledge to the American people, Congressional Republicans made a pledge to the big special interests to restore the same economic ideas that benefited them at the expense of middle-class families.

Here are two of the most vacuous and insidious voices of the GOP propaganda machine attacking Alan Grayson for trying to keep working families from being illegally foreclosed on:

UPDATE: And Republican Congressmen Are Already Admitting The Pledge Doesn't Mean Anything In Real Life

Just another cheap TV reality show, like Dancing With The Stars, Desperate Housewives, Mad Men, or America's Next Top Model... only starring a lazy, orange-tinged, alcoholic golfer. Think Progress got to the bottom of the GOP pledge to hoodwink America with recycled ideas for America's Top Crooked Corporate Lobbyists.

Yesterday, after a Republican Ways and Means Committee members press conference, ThinkProgress asked Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX) if Republicans would truly use the ideas from their own online platform-- as they said they would-- and include the popular idea to remove tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas in their “Pledge to America.” Brady, who actually voted to protect tax break for companies that ship jobs overseas, attacked the idea. After being pressed again, he flat out said “no,” and explained that Republicans would continue to favor tax breaks to the wealthy and to corporations that ship jobs overseas:

TP: I like the idea, letting people vote. As of last week, I don’t know the exact date, but the second highest idea, voted up by popular vote, was to end tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas. Do you expect something like that to be included in the new “contract” that will be unveiled tomorrow?

BRADY: I haven’t-- well, can you tell me what that provision is, because right now the ones we’ve seen from the Democrats and the White House actually penalize companies trying to sell and compete overseas. They do just the opposite. [...]

TP: So you think that some form of that, just different than what the Democrats have proposed, will be in the proposal tomorrow?

BRADY: No. I think our proposal is going to be how are you going to create the strongest economy in the world? And how’s America continue to lead for the next 100 years? All that has to do is lower taxes.